If you have ever wondered when Christmas carols first came about, the answer lies in the 14th century. Their evolution dates back even further. Even before the birth of Christ, it is believed that people sang midwinter songs to keep spirits up.
Christianity spread across Europe from the fourth to the 14th centuries, and the first carols were produced by Franciscan friars (pictured here in the 1940s), who were followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. These took the form of a dance in a circle with linked hands and everybody singing the song. Huge numbers of Christmas carols survive from the 15th century, making it the best-preserved aspect of English medieval music.
Professor Ronald Hutton believes that the dances associated with early carols died out as ‘people just got bored with it’. For a period, carols could be attached to any season, so there were May carols and harvest carols. But Hutton says that, as Christmas is the time for festivity, Christmas carols survived where carols linked to other parts of the year died out.
England’s oldest surviving carol, says Hutton, depends on how you define it. ‘If you go for the component parts, I think it’s “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night”, which has a 16th-century tune and 17th-century words. On the other hand, they’re not put together securely until the 19th century. So if you’re going for the oldest carol that’s still popular, which is complete, it’s probably “O Come All Ye Faithful”, both the tune and the words of which seem to be securely put together by the end of the 18th century.’
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